


Melted Ice 'Cap'!

by Brigid



Category: Captain America (2011)
Genre: Gen, Man Out of Time, News Articles, Post Movie, Publicity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brigid/pseuds/Brigid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Surprise return from the dead for America’s World War 2 Super Soldier Shocks Nation!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melted Ice 'Cap'!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rheanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rheanna/gifts).



**Melted Ice Cap!** from **The New York Post**

  
****  


 

  
_Surprise return from the dead for America’s World War 2 Super Soldier Shocks Nation!_   


  
__  


 

The first thing anyone told him, other than the fact that it was sixty years later than it should be, was “We won the war.” Without any further information. As if the outcome was the only thing that mattered.

 

“We thought it would be a good idea to get you caught up on the world before we send you back into it.” Director “Please call me Nick” Fury had said that Steve could leave anytime he wanted but it was clear that they wanted him to stay, specifically stay hidden. Steve briefly thought of just walking out but dismissed it in seconds. He didn’t have anywhere to go.

 

“Beyond just, ‘We won the war.’” Steve didn’t even look up.

 

“Yes. Nothing exhaustive but I can’t have you out there without knowing who the president is. I read in your file that you liked to draw. We’ve put some supplies down here.” Director Fury didn’t leave any room between sentences. 

 

“Thank You.”  Steve looked up questioningly. “Who _is_ the president?”

 

Fury laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I’ll let the briefings cover it.”

  
****  


 

 

 **Captain America Returns** from **The New York Times**

 

  
_This afternoon the Department of Defense announced that it had found someone who had been listed as Missing in Action for nearly seventy years. Captain Steven Rogers, popularly known as Captain America, lost over the Arctic in the waning days of World War 2 was recently found preserved within the plane he’d crashed in. Though the government is reluctant to provide details sources within the Defense Department point to the so-called “Super Soldier Serum” that provided Mr. Rogers with his remarkable abilities also allowed him to survive the past seventy years, apparently frozen in ice._   


  
__  


 

  
_Mr. Rogers wasn’t immediately available for questions. The spokesman said “at some point in the future Mr. Rogers will be available for comment” but at this time he was still adjusting to his situation and has asked for privacy._   


  
__  


 

No one had asked Steve to go to the press conference. The very enthusiastic woman named Kerry who appeared one morning had assured him it was part of a “media strategy” and he would make a public appearance “later in the process.”

 

“It’s very important that we deploy you at the most dynamic moment.” Kerry always talked with one hand gesturing and kept the other locked around something very small that might have been a radio that Steve couldn’t figure out why she carried. She didn’t talk into it but sometimes she looked down and left the room for a moment. “Today’s media environment is a lot different from the one you’re used to, it requires a little more strategy.”

 

“I don’t--”

 

“Have to worry about a thing! You do the hero thing, I’ll take care of the rest. That’s what they pay me for.”  She smiled. 

 

Kerry had two smiles, Steve had discovered. He sketched them out on the drawing paper when he was alone. One smile was resigned, sharp and quick, with barely upturned lips but this smile was the real one. Wide with lots of teeth. 

 

“Can’t do much of that in here.” 

 

“Not true. Square jaw, blond hair, determined look on your face. Now that’s a hero. I should take some pictures for the Facebook page.”

 

Steve’s confusion must have shown on his face because Kerry said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure they’ll cover it in one of the briefings.”

 

 

  
**Return of the Star Spangled Man**   


  
****  


 

  
_Captain Steve Rogers may have been recently found but he’s still not talking. Our own Christine Everhart tracks down those who knew him before his active duty in World War 2 to get the real story on Steve Rogers and ‘Captain America.’_   


  
__  


 

Steve wanted to ask what happened to the Howling Commandos and especially Peggy in his history lessons but every time he started to bring them up he hesitated. If anyone was still around they’d have come around already. Or Kerry would be bringing them in for interviews and touching reunion pieces. 

 

And really that was what he wanted to know, how Peggy had lived. He liked to think of her keeping up the fight. Not just against HYDRA but against the whole world who wanted to keep her down. He could hold onto that image. He had even drawn her, taking on the world, but he knew he hadn’t gotten the look on her face right. Sometimes he sketched her or other people he used to know when he should be paying attention. It was certainly more pleasant than most of the things he had to learn about.

 

“Why would we build enough weapons to destroy the world hundreds of times over?”

 

“Since you were frozen through the Cold War it would be difficult to explain.” A succession of agents had come into to teach Steve about the past sixty years. Agent Perkins was in charge of history. “To oversimplify, we thought it would a good deterrent.”

 

“And I’m sure every leader thinks that because we didn’t blow ourselves up they were. Even if that doesn’t make any sense since we still had wars and the threats we face now aren’t deterred by those types of weapons.”

 

“Many military scholars would agree with you. We have been drawing down our nuclear capabilities and I doubt they’ll ever be built back up.”

 

“But the search for the perfect weapon continues.”

 

 

 **Missing in Action** from **The Associated Press**

  
****  


 

  
_Despite assurances that he’d be made available to the media Captain Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, remains hidden behind a wall of military secrets and briefings. Kerry Hall, a Defense Department spokesperson, assured the press that Captain Rogers would be speaking to members of the media and making appearances very shortly._   


  
__  


 

  
_A source indicated that he’d most likely do a big interview sometime in January and make an appearance at the Super Bowl, no word on whether it will be as dramatic as Iron Man’s appearance last year._   


  
__  


 

Whenever a door opened on its own, Steve jumped. He’d thought that after the first few times he’d just get used to it. But so far that hadn’t worked. 

 

He was dealing with the phones by thinking of them as small radios. Kerry had laughed when he said that. Computers were another story entirely, “I don’t know how to turn it on.”

 

Kerry laughed but stopped abruptly when she saw his face. “Oh, you’re serious. Well, I’ll see what I can do.”

 

The next day she came in with a flat piece of glass and metal. “This is a Stark tablet, it’s the best on the market and it’s super easy to use. My grandfather never used his computer and then he got one of these and uses it all the time.”

 

Kerry spent the next hour telling him how to get on the internet. “And you can draw with it!”  


  


“Really?”

 

“Here.” She touched one of the icons and the cursor was transformed into a paintbrush. She started drawing with her finger. “You can change colors and effects.”

 

“That’s really nice.”  


  


“I thought you’d like it. Like I said my grandfather uses his all the time and he was born the same year as you.”

 

Steve’s smile faltered. “It’s so strange to think about. I should have kids with kids by now.”

 

“That was really insensitive of me, I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s fine. I’m not upset that I missed out. I get another chance now. I feel guilty because I know there are millions of people who also missed out and they don’t get another chance.”

 

“Steve, sometimes I’m concerned that when I finally get you in front of journalists they aren’t going to think you’re real.”

 

 

  
**Excerpt from _Vanity Fair_**   


  
__  


 

  
_... ‘Steve was always so nice,’ says Kathleen Morgan one of the dancers on Captain Rogers’ War Bond tour. ‘Like he really cared about us girls. You’d have thought that we’d try to date him but he instantly became like a younger brother. Most of us girls had sweethearts and it seemed like he did too. It was easy to just spend time with him.’_   


  
__  


 

  
_If Captain Rogers had someone in his life it was most likely Major Peggy Carter, a member of the Strategic Science Initiative he likely met before undergoing the treatment that turned him into Captain America. They did meet up after the tour, when Captain Rogers began his active service. Little is known about their actual relationship as Major Carter declined to discuss Captain Rogers and spent most of her life working under a Top Secret security clearance._   


  
__  


 

  
_It didn’t stopped the numerous films and other fictionalized accounts of Captain America from including love interests. In the absence of any true narrative they insert fictional love interests who range from French Resistance fighters to somewhat bizarrely, artists who specialize in glass blowing. Few of the movies have dealt with the period before Captain Rogers began active duty and the War Bond tour has remained a relatively unexplored section of his life._   


  
__  


 

  
_“We were all there because we wanted to help the country,” says Janet Sanders, another one of the dancers. “And it seemed much more glamourous than becoming a nurse! Really, it was a lot of bus travel, but I do think it was helpful. Steve wanted to serve in combat and I think we all figured he would end up there eventually.”_   


  
__  


 

  
_And of course he did. Nearly as soon as he managed to get himself to Europe he led a daring night time raid on a POW camp and saved hundreds of prisoners. His actions led to his first medal. He didn’t show up for the ceremony. Most of his further exploits remain classified, which has only added to the curiosity surrounding him over the years._   


  
_  
_   


  
__  


“Kerry, you seem a little nervous.”

 

“I’m not nervous.” Kerry checked her phone again. When his briefings had caught up with technology, Kerry had started using it in front of him. “I just want this to go perfectly.”

 

“I’ve never met a president. I was supposed to, but I didn’t show up.”

 

“I know, I read your file. I have met the president, which is why I’m not nervous. I’m just planning out all the ways it could go wrong.”

 

“I thought you said I was good at this.”

 

“Steve I am not worried about you. You are going to be perfect. If you show up, which is one of the reasons I am pacing here and making sure you don’t take another runner. This-you- have been an important project for me.”

 

“I can’t wait until I’m not someone’s project.”

 

“After this week I don’t think you will be.”

 

“Unless something goes wrong.”

 

“I’ve gone over all those possibilities in my head and eliminated them. I’m going to stay with you until this afternoon, then you’ll meet the president. We’ll take some pictures, he’ll look presidential, you’ll look heroic. We’ll visit some of the sites in DC. Are you sure about all of that, because we don’t have to go to the memorial if you don’t want to?”

 

“I at least want to see it. I feel a little bad that it’s obsolete now.”

 

Kerry laughed. “Steve, sometimes you are just ludicrously earnest. I honestly can’t think of a single other person who would feel bad about a monument dedicated to them being out of date.”

 

“I’m sure there must be someone.”

 

“That’s what’s so great about you, you really think that. If there is anything you don’t want us to photograph, you can tell me. I think they want to do some of the interview walking around so you’ll probably have to go back tomorrow.”

 

“Is this the only interview I have to do?” Steve couldn’t wait to get out into the world but he wasn’t looking forward to interviews. It had been much easier before, when he could just stay in Europe. There had probably been a person with Kerry’s job then, and who had probably hated him.

 

“Eventually, yes. I haven’t scheduled any more, just _60 Minutes_ and then, of course, the Super Bowl.”

 

“Do I really have to?”

 

“Last year, Iron Man did a fly over at half time and landed during the show. He even did a dance. So be glad that all I’m asking you to do is wave.”

 

 

 **“What’s on Tonight Top Pick: _60 Minutes_ ” **from **The AV Club**

 

  
_We don’t usually watch television news and especially not television news on CBS but tonight the whole hour is dedicated to Captain America, who aside from being a real hero just spent sixty years frozen in the Arctic. It’ll probably be a pretty interesting hour, with lots of archival footage and the only interview he’s actually agreed to. Check him out now so you can be cooler than all your friends when he shows up at the Super Bowl next week. Or you could just annoy them with random trivia, that’s always fun._   


  
_  
_   


  
__  


He’d toured the country on a bus, he’d singlehandedly decided to free POWs, he’d charged into a lot of HYDRA bases (not alone but he’d still done it). He could handle one football stadium filled with fans. He stepped out of the tunnel.

**Author's Note:**

> I have always liked stories that write about the subject in the world and I thought a story that was about how the world would react to Steve's return would be as interesting as one with his response to the world. And there is no way that the American government would have passed up the amazing publicity opportunity that would come from this. Steve would probably have wanted to show up at the World Series but more people watch the Super Bowl.


End file.
